The Hollywood Reporter has broken the story, so I'm now free to comment on a juicy little nugget of GAME OF THRONES news that I've been sitting on for a week or so:

Neil Marshall has been signed to direct an episode for our second season.

For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past ten years or so, Marshall is the director of CENTURION, of DOG SOLDIERS, and — especially — of THE DESCENT, which I think may well be the best horror film of the past twenty years or so. (Do NOT confuse it with the sequel, a much weaker film). GAME OF THRONES will be his first foray into television.
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And what makes this especially exciting is that the episode he'll be directing is... mine. Yes. He's going to directing episode nine, "Blackwater." The Battle of the Blackwater.

I still don't how the hell we can possibly afford to do half of what I put into that script, but if anyone can pull off my budget-busting battle, it's Marshall.

Amazing! Marshall has been starved for some good material, and GOT certainly has mountains of that. Can't wait to see what he'll do with the Battle of Blackwater.